


Send Me An Angel

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Series: Angel Adrift [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Supernatural, Thor (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angels, Gen, Michael is full of confusion and angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-13
Packaged: 2018-03-22 08:48:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3722698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy Lewis finds a big-ass tree in the middle of the New Mexico desert, right before the start of <i>Thor</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Last Archangel](https://archiveofourown.org/works/888704) by [inukagome15](https://archiveofourown.org/users/inukagome15/pseuds/inukagome15). 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is pure self-indulgent nonsense, but hopefully you guys will like it too...

**Chapter One**

The thing about being in Puente Antiguo was that when she wasn’t working with Jane, there wasn’t really much for Darcy to do.

Sure, she had her laptop, which meant that she could watch the movies on her hard drive and surf the internet when the shitty internet connection was working, but Darcy had always been full of energy, and being cooped up too long made her go stir-crazy. It was fine back in New York, where there were thousands of shops and cafes and other sources of amusement, but here in this tiny New Mexico town there wasn’t much to keep Darcy busy. Here, Darcy’s main choices for entertainment were the supermarket, the video rental store, or the second-hand bookshop down on the main street. None of these were interesting enough to keep Darcy occupied.

Darcy had taken to going for walks, late at night when the air was cool and the only people around were all crowded into the town’s one bar. Darcy always brought her iPod with her, cranking the volume up as she walked. There was something about the stillness, the quiet, that made her feel far too alone otherwise. It had always seemed to her, even when she was surrounded by people, that the world was too quiet and empty, leaving her alone inside her head. Only her music made her feel less isolated.

Other people didn’t get it, Darcy knew. As a teenager she always had the radio or her CD player on, leading to complaints about the noise from her parents. At night she’d lie awake, feeling hemmed in and trapped by the silence.

Darcy could still remember being about seven years old and asking her mother, “Why can’t I hear your thoughts in my head like I can hear mine?”

Her mother had looked bemused, and laughed, and explained that you couldn’t hear other people’s thoughts: but Darcy had walked away feeling dissatisfied, knowing deep in her gut that her thoughts shouldn’t be so alone.

Buying an iPod had allowed Darcy to listen to music wherever she went, whenever she wanted. It was, without exaggerating, her most prized possession. Jane had commented on the fact that Darcy seemed to spend half her life with earphones in, but it didn’t affect Darcy’s ability to work, so the scientist hadn’t really cared about the issue.

Erik had raised concerns about Darcy walking out late at night by herself, but Darcy had only laughed.

“Erik, everyone in this town knows everyone else,” she said. “If one of them was a serial killer, someone would have noticed by now. I’ll be fine.”

So Darcy went on her long evening walks, burning up the restless energy that had accrued during her long hours in the lab, glancing up at the stars, which were far more visible than they were in New York city, and listening to her music as she went.

It was on one such walk that Darcy was surprised to come across a tree, in the middle of the dry, dusty dirt that made up the desert. It was a dark silhouette against the night sky, blotting out the stars where its long branches spread.

Darcy squinted at it.

“What the hell?” she asked aloud. “Why is there a tree in the middle of the desert?”

So far she hadn’t come across much greenery, besides the pot plants some people had outside their houses. Certainly not any trees.

Curiosity piqued, Darcy walked closer, hoping to get a better look.

Up close, the tree seemed even more improbable than it had when Darcy was standing further away. It was a large tree, covered with leaves, and clearly needed more water than the New Mexico desert was capable of supplying.

Darcy stood there puzzling over it, while Real Life blasted away in her ears.

“ _Do you believe in heaven above…”_

Cautiously, Darcy picked her way closer, making sure she didn’t trip over the uneven surface of the ground. The tree stretched up and up before her, reaching for the sky, and Darcy looked up at it as she approached.

She put out a hand, reaching for the tree’s trunk, just as Real Life reached the chorus of their song.

_“Send me an angel…”_

Darcy’s hand touched the tree, and everything was consumed by white.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

It took Michael a moment to understand what had happened, what she was – her mind was a jumble of thoughts, incoherent and out of order. But slowly coherency returned, things slotting into place, and she saw that she was leaning back against the tree – the tree which had been holding her Grace, she realised –  her fingers curling against the bark, trying to get a better grip.

She let her hands relax, and tipped her head back, staring past the branches of her tree to the night sky above, blazing with stars.

All around her was silence, but finally Michael understood why the quiet bothered her so much. There were no angels calling to one another, no blessed harmony of the Heavenly Host’s voices in the background. Nothing but emptiness, devoid of sound.

Absently Michael felt around for the cord of her earphones, fingers travelling along the cord until they reached an earphone, and carefully fitted it back into her ear. Music returned – this time, Icehouse’s _Electric Blue,_ halfway through the song. Michael had been out of it for at least the length of a song, then.

Slowly Michael slid down the trunk of the tree until she was resting on the ground, and slipped the second earphone back into her left ear.

For a long time she just sat there, absorbing memories that until recently had been lost to her, listening to the music playing in her ears. It wasn’t the voices of the Host, but it helped, all the same.

Finally, the last memory she had as Michael returned.

_Michael was in the Cage, at the opposite end from Lucifer, when the voice spoke._

_“MICHAEL,” it boomed, and there was no mistaking that voice, ringing like the sound of trumpets through Michael’s very being._

_Michael turned wildly, searching for a visual representation of their Father, but there was none._

_“Father?” they whispered, unable to believe it._

_“IT IS TRULY I,” responded the voice, and Michael felt near to weeping in their joy – it didn’t matter why their Father had left in the first place, because finally They had returned._

_“You have returned?” Michael asked, but didn’t expect the reply they received._

_“I HAVE NOT,” said the voice._

_Michael tried to make sense of that._

_“But… why?” they asked, their voice full of confusion and hurt. “After all this time–”_

_“YOU STILL HAVE NOT LEARN THE LESSON I WISHED FOR YOU TO LEARN,” said Michael’s Father sternly, and wasn’t that a crushing blow._

_Michael staggered under the weight of that disapproval, directed their way for the first time in memory._

_“Lesson?” they echoed, feeling helplessly lost. “What… lesson?”_

_“CASTIEL HAS LEARNED IT. GABRIEL HAS LEARNED IT. AND NOW YOU TOO SHALL LEARN, ALTHOUGH THE MANNER IN WHICH YOU ARE TAUGHT WILL, BY NECESSITY, BE DIFFERENT,” said their Father, and while They had always been cryptic, this took enigmatic to entirely new lengths._

_“I don’t understand,” Michael admitted, curving their wings close around them for comfort._

_“YOU WILL,” said Michael’s Father, and then –_

Then there was nothing, just the fuzziness of early human memories, imperfectly captured and stored in a biological brain, which not even an angelic mind could restore to full sharpness.

Michael closed her eyes, and wondered what on Earth her Father had wanted her to learn. Why had she been made human? What was that supposed to _achieve?_

“Castiel,” she said aloud, the sensation of air and sound passing through her lips feeling familiar and strange at the same time. Her vessel felt snug, but not too small: a perfect fit, grown solely for her use. “What could he have learned that I haven’t? Father, what do you want me to know?” she asked the sky.

There was no answer. Michael hadn’t expected that there would be.

“Alright,” said Michael finally. She couldn’t sit here forever. Well, she _could_ – one of the benefits of being an entity of eternity – but there wasn’t much point. She wouldn’t learn anything just sitting around. “I don’t know why I’m here, but there’s obviously a reason, and you probably wanted me human for all those years for a reason too. So I’m going to find out what it is, and then I’m going to learn whatever it is you’re trying to teach me.”

Michael climbed to her feet, patted the iPod in her jacket pocket to make sure it wasn’t about to fall out, and began to walk back towards the trailer where she and Jane slept.

When she got back, Jane was sitting on her bed, reading a book. She glanced up absently as Michael walked in, then did a double-take.

“What happened to you?” Jane asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I’m fine,” Michael lied, trying to sound like Darcy, not Michael. “It’s just really cold out there. I’m going to get changed into my pyjamas and go to bed.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Jane’s expression was full of concern.

“I’m sure,” said Michael, putting down her iPod so that she could gather up her pyjamas and dig clean underwear out of her suitcase. “Don’t worry about me.”

She shut herself in the toilet to get changed into her pyjamas. When she emerged, Jane sent her a glance, before going back to her book.

Michael lay down on her bed where it jutted out of the wall, and fitted her earphones into her ears again.

After about half an hour Jane made sure the door to the trailer was locked, and turned off all the lights. Michael shoved her iPod under her pillow so that the light from the screen wouldn’t bother Jane.

“Night, Darcy,” said Jane, her voice quiet but real in the darkness.

“Night, Jane,” Michael responded.

Jane was quiet after that, and soon slipped into faint snores, but Michael lay on her side, staring at the wall as the night lengthened, her music playing in her ears.

As the sky began to lighten with the approaching dawn, she finally turned the iPod off, and lay there, listening to the silence with a heavy heart.

There were still no angelic voices in the emptiness, and Michael knew that wherever she was, she entirely, inescapably alone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Over the next few days, Michael tried to adjust to her human life. In one sense, it was easy: certain things came automatically after a lifetime of doing them, despite how unfamiliar they seemed to Michael’s angelic self. In another sense though, it was difficult. Michael had spent aeons serving her Father, leading the armies of Heaven, and living a human life – well, it was different, to say the least.

Michael could have ended the pretence, she supposed, left Puente Antiguo and gone somewhere else – but where would she go? What would she do? The same problem of purpose would have confronted her no matter where she went. So in New Mexico she stayed, and continued working with Jane, trying not to let on that anything had changed.

Michael listened to her iPod constantly, and chattered away to Jane to fill the silence.

“Is she always this garrulous?” Erik asked in an undertone, when he thought Michael was far away that she couldn’t hear.

“Not usually.” Jane sounded slightly worried. “She came back last night with the strangest expression on her face – I think something might have happened.”

So it wasn’t a surprise when Jane pulled Darcy aside and asked, “Are you really okay?”

Michael took a deep breath, and let it out.

“No,” she said, and it hurt to admit it, hurt to confess that she wasn’t in control of herself and the world around her. As Darcy Lewis, she had been used to the arbitrariness of the universe, but as Michael it came as unpleasant shock.

“Something did happen,” Jane guessed, looking at Michael.

Michael’s nails dug into her palms.

“Yes,” she said, and then hurried to reassure Jane. “It wasn’t – it wasn’t something bad. Just… unexpected, and now I have to rethink a few things. That’s all.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” The expression in Jane’s eyes was sympathetic.

Michael almost laughed at the thought of sharing what was going on. There was no way Jane would believe her, or understand Michael’s predicament even if she did.

“Not right now,” Michael said tactfully. “For now, I’d rather just think it over by myself.”

“Well, if you change your mind…”

“Thanks,” said Michael, and Jane let the subject drop.

* * *

Michael was no closer to finding an answer to her questions the night that the three of them – Michael, Jane, and Erik – drove out into the desert to observe the weird phenomena that Jane was studying.

They got lucky. Weird clouds started boiling up, flashes of light inside them, easily visible in the dark night sky.

Michael kept only half an eye on the terrain she was driving across, too busy staring at the bizarre storm that was springing up. To human eyes it looked strange enough, but to her angelic senses, it felt…

It felt like space and time were tearing apart, a bridge forming between two different points in spacetime as the fabric around it tore.

“Darcy? Darcy!” Jane yelled in her ear, and Michael went back to concentrating on driving with a start, realising that she’d been so busy concentrating on the spacetime anomaly that she hadn’t been paying attention to where she was going.

There was an argument on what to do next. Michael didn’t know what was causing the spacetime anomaly, but in this strange, angel-less world, she wanted to stay well away.

“I am not dying for six college credits!” she yelled, and tried to turn the van around.

Jane grabbed the wheel and jerked it sideways, directing the van back towards the storm just as Michael sensed something living appear at the centre of the spacetime anomaly. Michael tried to turn the wheel, but too late: a human figure loomed up in the darkness, and the van collided with them at full speed.

Michael stopped the van. She and the others climbed out as the spacetime anomaly faded away to nothing, leaving nothing but the man lying prone on the desert sand. Jane hurried towards him, kneeling beside him to check his vital signs.

“I think that was legally your fault,” said Michael, letting her human responses take control. She looked towards the man, checking him over with her angelic senses. To her surprise, he seemed more or less okay, just stunned, despite having been hit by a van.

“Where did he come from?” Jane asked, looking around at the empty desert surrounding them.

“He just appeared,” said Michael, staying where she was. “I think he came from the anomaly.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Jane automatically, her attention still on the man lying on the ground.

There was a low groan, and a deep voice muttered, “Hammer…”

Michael wasn’t sure where the man had came from, but he definitely wasn’t from anywhere on Earth. The idea creeped her out. Back home, the only life in the universe was on Earth, but here… well, that didn’t seem to be the case. Probably the alien human was harmless, but…

“Erik, look at this,” Jane said, shining her torch at the sand. There was a strange pattern there. Jane pulled out a camera and started taking photos. “We’ve got to move fast before everything changes,” she added, already forgetting the strange man lying on the sand. “We need soil samples, light readings, everything.”

Michael and Erik ignored her, too busy watching the alien human as he sat up and stared up at the sky, an expression of incomprehension on his features.

Michael looked at Erik, who appeared worried.

“Jane, we need to get him to a hospital,” Erik said, as the alien got to his feet, stumbling.

“Not right now,” said Jane, scooping soil into a canister. “It’ll take too long. County’s an hour away. Look at him, he’s fine.”

It was at this point that the alien began shouting at the sky.

“Father!” he yelled, staring up at the stars, and Michael’s stomach gave a weird jolt.  “Heimdall! I know you can hear me! Open the bridge!”

Heimdall? Michael recognised that name – it belonged to one of the pagan gods, of the Norse pantheon, if she remembered correctly. This only increased Michael’s confusion – was this stranger supposed to be this reality’s version of a pagan god? She scanned him with angelic senses again, more closely this time.

It was faint, but this time Michael noticed traces of a mystical energy field infusing his body, fading away with every passing moment. So, perhaps not a god right at the moment, but possibly one in the very recent past.

Michael looked back at Jane, who was watching as the alien-slash-possible-god blundered about, still roaring at the sky.

“Okay, you and Darcy take him to the hospital. I’ll stay here,” Jane conceded.

“You expect me to leave you alone in the middle of the desert?” Erik asked in exasperation.

“ _You!_ ” shouted the alien, and everyone looked over to see him staggering towards them. His expression of incomprehension had given away to one of anger. “What world is this?”

_Oh_ , thought Michael, and couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity. She could put two and two together – and if she was right, the stranger had just been stripped of his powers and kicked out of his home.

It should have reminded Michael of Lucifer, but… alone, far away from home, and abandoned by her father to learn whatever lesson it was that he deemed necessary, Michael couldn’t help but sympathise.

“Hey, buddy, it’s okay,” Michael said soothingly, taking a step forward, ignoring Erik’s attempts to pull her back. “You’re on Earth.”

“ _Earth?_ ” said the alien incredulously, and with even greater anger. He was still staggering towards them. His expression was furious, and Michael knew that if she had still been human, she would have been afraid. But she wasn’t human, she was an angel – an _archangel_ – and a faded-away god held no terrors for her, no matter how angry he was.

“You need to calm down,” Michael said, still in a calm, soothing voice. “Okay?”

Before she could stop him Erik pushed his way in front of her, clearly trying to shield her from the alien stranger.

“It’s all right, my friend,” Erik said cautiously, “we’re going to get you some help.”

“Erik, don’t–” said Jane, but Erik was too busy trying to placate the stranger. Michael huffed, and mentally cursed Erik’s chivalrous instincts. Sure, Michael _looked_ like a defenceless young woman, and Erik had no way of knowing that she wasn’t, but it still annoyed Michael that he was putting himself in needless danger.

The stranger raised his fist, an expression of rage on his face.

Michael pushed forward in front of Erik just in time to catch the punch before it collided with Erik’s face.

For a moment the alien looked like he didn’t understand what had just happened. Then his look of anger returned, and he tried to pull his hand free. Michael tightened her grip, feeling cartilage squeak under her fingers from the pressure she was exerting.

“I don’t care what world you’re from,” Michael said, and her voice came out low and full of fury, “but you do _not_ get to hurt my friends. Got it?”

The alien continued to try and pull his hand free, with stronger and stronger jerks, but they had no effect. A look of bewilderment crossed his face, and finally he stopped trying to break free, regarding Michael warily instead.

“I was told that the people of Midgard are weak and defenceless,” he said. “What are you?”

Michael felt the smile that curved her lips, bleak and terrible. The alien looked faintly alarmed.

“I am alone,” she said, and reached up with her free hand to touch two fingers to the stranger’s forehead. She moved aside as he toppled forward and sprawled back down in the desert sand, unconscious.

She turned around to find Erik and Jane watching her with unnerved expressions.

The silence was overwhelming.

“We should probably take him to the hospital,” Michael said, as though nothing had happened. “Jane, do whatever you need to do, and then we’ll leave. Erik, you grab his legs, we need to get him in the van.”

For a moment neither scientist moved; then Erik started to move forward slowly, towards the alien.

“Right,” said Jane, still looking unnerved, but went back to taking soil samples.

Erik didn’t say anything as he and Michael lifted the unconscious alien into the van. It was only when the guy was inside and the back doors of the van were shut that Erik turned to look at Michael, and opened his mouth for a second, before shutting it again.

“What?” Michael asked, playing oblivious.

“Nothing,” Erik muttered, and went to collect Jane.

Michael got back in the driver’s seat of the van, and slid her earphones into her ears.

It was going to be a long night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Six thousand words in one night. I am done for at least a day.

**Chapter Four**

It was a long drive to the county hospital.

Neither Erik nor Jane said much on the way. Jane was probably too busy thinking about the spacetime anomaly, and Michael didn’t know Erik well enough yet to guess at what he was thinking.

So she drove across the barren landscape, the moon and stars shining overhead, with _Birdhouse In Your Soul_ blaring in her ears.

Driving was instinct, second-nature, and Michael allowed her mind to drift away a little, onto thoughts other than driving.

Michael had a strong feeling that whatever the alien’s story was, she and the others were about to become caught up in it. Before, Michael would have said that the antics of a pagan god were beneath her, but now she wondered if he was the reason she was here, an archangel again.

The question had been bothering her. Presumably she’d rediscovered her Grace for a reason, but if so: why here? Why now? What purpose did Michael being an archangel again serve?

Michael glanced back towards the back of the van using the rear-view mirror, where the stranger was still lying, completely out of it.

It was possible that others might come after this alien, she speculated – maybe her duty here was to protect the Earth from intruders? It made about as much sense as anything else did.

Yet again, Michael’s mind circled back to that last conversation she’d had with her Father.

_Castiel has learned it. Gabriel has learned it. And now you too shall learn…_

Learn _what?_ Michael wondered, feeling frustrated and forlorn. She looked out at the desert before her.

She hadn’t even seen Gabriel in – it had to be about a thousand years, give or take a century or two. They’d just up and left, and Michael hadn’t even realised they were missing, at first, too busy with other duties. By the time Michael realised that Gabriel was actually _gone_ – well, it had been too late to find them. Far too late.

Where had Gabriel gone? What had they been doing? And most importantly, what had they _learned_ that was so damn important?

Michael only hoped that she would find out, someday. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

After about an hour’s driving, Michael finally pulled into the hospital parking lot. Together, she and Jane and Erik carried the alien into the emergency admissions area of the hospital, where he was quickly moved onto a stretcher.

“Name?” asked the admissions nurse, as the alien was wheeled away.

“No idea,” said Jane. “I’ve never met him before.”

“Until she hit him with the car,” Michael put in.

“Grazed him, actually,” said Jane, sending Michael an annoyed glance. She seemed to have totally forgotten the earlier incident, when Michael had rendered the alien unconscious. Michael wasn’t sure whether she had brushed it aside as a trick of the mind, or what.

Michael wasn’t entirely certain that taking the alien to an Earth hospital was the best idea, but he _seemed_ human enough, and her senses were far more encompassing than human senses were. Hopefully it wouldn’t do him or the hospital any harm.

“And then he just… passed out,” Jane went on, still talking to the admissions nurse. “I just want to make sure he’s okay.”         

“I'm going to need a name and contact number,” said the nurse. Michael wandered outside while Jane was giving the nurse her details.

A few minutes later, Jane rejoined her.

“Hey,” said Michael. Jane gave her a long look.

“How long have you been able to send someone unconscious just by touching them?” Jane asked finally.

Michael darted a glance at her.

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb, it doesn’t suit you,” said Jane. “Did you think I’d forgotten?”

“Well, yeah,” Michael admitted. “Human minds tend to brush over stuff that’s outside what they think is possible.”

“ _Human_ minds?” Jane repeated, and her eyes asked a question.

Michael took a deep breath.

“It’s complicated,” she said stiffly, and started to walk back to the van.

“But you’re human,” said Jane, catching hold of Michael’s arm.

“I’m a being of phenomenal cosmic powers bound up in a human shell,” said Michael, shaking her off. “Like I said, it’s complicated.”

“You’d better explain,” said Jane. “You can’t just do something like what you did and not–”

“You want an explanation?” Michael said, rounding on her. “ _Fine_. I was an archangel and then I wasn’t, and then I was an archangel again except that I _remember_ being human, and it’s messing me up. Plus I have some kind of lesson I need to learn and no idea what it is. How’s that for an explanation?” Michael turned to stomp back towards the van.

“ _Archangel_ _?_ ” Jane repeated, hurrying after her. “What do you mean, archangel? They’re… stories.”

“Maybe here,” Michael snarled, and kept walking. “Not where I come from.”

“Darcy, are you – wait, are you _crying?_ ” asked Jane, her tone altering mid-sentence.

Michael reached up to touch her face, and felt wetness there. She took a deep, shaky breath, feeling a sob bubbling up in her chest, and sank down onto the hard bitumen, ignoring the fact that there were cars everywhere. She buried her head in her hands.

A tentative hand touched her shoulder.

“Darcy?” Jane’s voice was soft. “Look, I’m sorry for pressing – we can talk about this later. But you can’t sit in the middle of the parking lot.”

“Watch me,” Michael said, her voice breaking on the last word.

“Darcy–”

“My name is Michael,” said Michael, still with her head in her hands. It came out muffled.

“Michael, then,” said Jane. “Come on, at least go and sit in the van. It’s not safe to sit here.”

Michael sat for a moment longer, then heaved a sigh. Her chest felt strangely tight, and her eyes were still prickling with tears, which were rolling down her cheeks. Michael wiped her face on her sleeve, and looked up.

Jane was staring down at her with worry and curiosity.

“Okay,” said Michael, and stood up.

Jane was silent as they walked back to the van, where Erik was waiting. His eyes widened as he saw Michael.

“Did something happen?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure?” Jane said in an undertone as she joined him in the back of the van, which Michael climbed into the driver’s seat. “I was asking her about how she sent that guy unconscious, and she said something about being an archangel, and then she just… cried.”

Michael could feel their gazes on her from the back seat, but refused to look back in their direction. Instead she sat upright in the front seat, ignoring the impulse to fold in on herself, and groped around in her pocket for her iPod.

“An archangel?” Erik asked, in a low voice. “That’s absurd.”

Michael ignored them, starting the van engine.

“Uh, Darcy? Or Michael? Whatever your name is,” Jane finished in a mutter, but Michael still heard. “Are you sure you don’t want one of us to drive?”

“Nope,” said Michael, pulling out of the parking lot, and watching in the rear view mirror as Jane and Erik scrambled to do up their seat belts. “I’m just peachy.” She reached up with one arm to wipe her eyes. She finally seemed to have stopped crying, thank goodness.

For the first ten minutes or so of the drive, Jane and Erik murmured to each other in the back about whether Michael was having a psychotic break.

“I can hear you, you know,” Michael said after about ten minutes of this. The murmuring cut off abruptly. “I’m not crazy.”

“No, no of course not,” said Erik placatingly. “I’m sure you’re perfectly–”

Michael had enough. She pulled over to the side of the road.

“Darcy, what are you–” Jane began.

Michael relocated the van with a snap of her fingers.

“– _doing?_ ” Jane’s voice squeaked slightly as she realised that the van was suddenly parked outside her trailer, back in Puente Antiguo.

“How…” Erik’s voice trailed off.

“Archangel,” Michael said flatly, and got out of the van.

She unlocked the trailer with a thought, and by the time that Erik and Jane reached the trailer, she was already inside, lying on her bed, still listening to her iPod.

“How did you _do_ that?” Jane demanded, walking into the trailer. Her expression was one of fascination. Behind her, Erik was looking – not quite afraid, but close, confronted with something he didn’t understand.

Michael contemplated ignoring the two of them, but Jane was waiting patiently for an answer. So she sat up, and faced the scientist.

“I told you, I’m an archangel,” said Michael. She spread her wings wide, and Jane and Erik’s eyes widened at the sight of the shadows being cast against the wall, huge and feathered. Michael waited a moment to give them the full effect, before folding her wings away again.

“Okay,” Jane said slowly, “say I believe you. Why…?”

“Why am I here?” Michael asked for her. “I have no idea.” Her hands clenched, her nails digging itno her palms. “I was… everything I am was stripped from me. I was reborn as a human, lived for twenty-three years that way, and then… I was restored to my true self. Remembered everything. The last thing I was told, before my powers were stripped from me, was that I had a lesson to learn. But I don’t know what it is, or what I’m supposed to be doing. I have no idea of _anything_.”

Distantly Michael registered the sensation of pain, and unclenched her hands. She looked at her palms, and saw a trickle of blood there. As she watched, it healed over.

Jane looked like she was having an epiphany.

“The other night, when you came back with that weird expression on your face, that was when you became an archangel again, wasn’t it?” she asked.

Michael nodded.

“So –”

“This is ridiculous,” Erik broke in. He looked at Jane in appeal. “Jane. You can’t possibly be believing this. Angels… it goes against every scientific principle…”

“An absence of proof is not an absence of the thing itself,” Jane quoted, and Michael smothered a laugh at the look on Erik’s face. He sank down onto Jane’s bed.

“But…” he said helplessly.

“I really am an archangel,” Michael assured him. She was feeling a little calmer, now, and slightly sorry for her outburst. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I really am.”

“So you really don’t know why you’re here on Earth?” Jane asked, and Michael nodded.

“It’s a total mystery,” she said. “All I know is that two of my brothers learned whatever lesson it is that I’m supposed to learn. One of them was a fallen seraph who rebelled against Heaven to defend humanity, and the other was a runaway who hadn’t been seen for a thousand years. I’m not really seeing exactly what I have to learn from either of them.”

“Maybe that’s your problem,” Jane suggested, her mind already throwing itself into this new problem and suggesting possible solutions. “Maybe they understood something you don’t. Why did the second one run away?”

“Father only knows,” Michael sighed. She felt suddenly tired, burdened by the knowledge that she was failing whatever test had been set for her. “I don’t really want to talk about it anymore.” She changed the subject. “How about we all go to bed and get some sleep? You’re going to want to look over your data tomorrow, and you don’t want to be running on empty when you do it.”

“I don’t think so,” said Jane firmly. “I just found out my intern is an archangel. I need time to absorb this. This is… amazing.”

“You are really an archangel?” Erik sounded dubious.

“Really really,” said Michael. “Wings, halo, the lot. I’m just inside a human body right now, which is a good thing for you, because otherwise I’d destroy a significant portion of the Earth.”

“So you’re… inside your body?” Jane murmured, half to herself. “How does that work?”

Michael shrugged.

“I’m energy,” she said matter-of-factly. “The right human body acts as a vessel, containing what I am.” She didn’t mention the fact that usually, the right human body was taken through a form of possession. Michael had been human long enough to understand how deeply the concept of possession unnerved most people. She got it now, in a way she never had before. Self-possession was the most basic right a human being had, and to have that taken away was an uspeakable violation, from a human perspective. It was a wonder _any_ humans agreed to be vessels.

“But why?” Jane persisted.

“I don’t have the words to explain the concept in any human language,” said Michael. “The words just don’t exist.”

Jane stopped.

“You mean, you’re talking about scientific concepts beyond current human comprehension,” she said, awe and excitement filling her voice.

“More mystical than scientific, but basically,” Michael agreed. Angelic minds worked very differently to human minds, and their concepts were very different. It was no wonder they had so much trouble understanding each other. Michael herself was still trying to reconcile the human and angelic aspects of herself.

“Can you teach me?” Jane asked hopefully.

“Probably not,” Michael admitted. “I might be able to help you with some of your science stuff, but I can’t explain how angelic concepts work. Your brain functions way too differently. You don’t think in enough dimensions, for a start. Even if I had the words, it would be like trying to explain the colour red to someone colourblind, or the smell of strawberries to a person without a sense of smell.”

Jane looked disappointed, but said, “I think I understand.” She sat next to Erik on the bed, and leaned forward. “What can you tell me about the magnetic storm?”

“Well, for one thing, it wasn’t a magnetic storm,” Michael began, and Jane went, “I knew it!”

“It’s hard to describe, but basically the fabric of spacetime tore, and a bridge was temporarily formed between two places that weren’t previously connected,” Michael explained.

“Like an Einstein-Rosen bridge?” Jane asked, and frowned. “Wait – spacetime _tore?_ ”

“Don’t worry, spacetime repairs itself pretty easily,” said Michael. “At least in my experience.”

“So you’re not worried?”

“Not really,” said Darcy. “I mean, it would be nice if whoever it was would stop tearing holes in it, but it shouldn’t be an actual _problem_ , or anything.” She leaned back against the wall of the trailer. “Tomorrow you should go talk to the guy we found in the desert. He came from wherever the bridge originated.”

Jane sat bolt upright.

“Wait – you’re saying the guy we found – he’s an _alien?_ ”

“It’s a new one on me, too,” said Michael. “I think he used to be a god, too, but someone’s stripped his powers from him, whoever he is. You should be careful questioning him, but he should be able to tell you more about the technology used and where he came from in the first place.”

“Aliens and gods,” Erik muttered. “I need a drink.”

“You stopped his punch when he attacked Erik,” Jane noted. “How strong are you?”

Michael shrugged again.

“Pretty strong.”

There was a moment’s silence.

“You’re right, I need to sleep on this,” said Jane. “But we _are_ talking about this in the morning.”

“If you say so,” said Michael. She managed a smile, and found that it wasn’t as difficult as she had expected. She felt lighter than she had earlier, and wondered at the feeling.

“Well, I’d better head back to the motel,” said Erik. He sent Michael one last, dubious glance. “Sleep well, Jane. Darcy.” He left the trailer, leaving Michael and Jane alone.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

As Jane slept, Michael let her thoughts wander. Somehow, she found them drifting towards Lucifer. Was he still in the Cage, she wondered, or had he been made human too? Did he have the same lesson to learn, whatever it was? Even though she and Lucifer had done nothing but tear at each other for ages, Michael missed her brother. The truth was, she missed all her brothers.

Not for the first time, she wondered what had happened to Gabriel. Wherever they had gone after leaving Heaven, she hoped that they were okay.

Michael rolled over, feeling restless. As a human sleep had come naturally, but now… Michael didn’t need sleep to function, and she couldn’t seem to remember the trick of it. Instead, she lay awake, left alone with her thoughts when she’d much rather be distracted.

The next day Jane, Michael and Erik went to Isabella’s diner for breakfast. Michael took great pleasure in ordering a small stack of pancakes and covering them with maple syrup. Before, she wouldn’t have deigned to eat, but after living as a human all those years she’d discovered that there was a certain joy to be found in delicious food.

Jane watched her as she cut her first pancake into pieces and used them to mop up some of the excess syrup.

“You know, you’re nothing like I imagined an archangel to be,” Jane said at last. Erik frowned into his cup of coffee, but didn’t say anything.

“Let me guess,” said Michael. “Stern? Righteous? Complete badass with wings and a sword? Kind of unforgiving?”

“Well, yeah,” Jane admitted.

“I used to be all those things,” said Michael, past a mouthful of pancake. “Then I was human for twenty-three years.” She waved a hand around at all the people in the diner. “Before, I would have looked around and seen nothing but weak, flawed creatures, beneath my notice. Now I look around, and I see people, good-hearted, well-meaning people. People who deserve better than what life throws at them. It’s hard to keep thinking badly of you guys when I know first-hand how hard it is just to be human.”

“Being an angel isn’t hard?” Jane questioned.

“Being an angel is easy,” Michael scoffed, and then frowned. “Well, no, not _easy_. But there are… things you can take for granted. Duty. Responsibility. The certainty of a destined path. Or at least, I used to think so.” Michael thought of the Winchesters, who had turned all that certainty on its head.

The world was supposed to end, Michael was supposed to fight Lucifer, and that was it. Except that it hadn’t happened that way – Sam had somehow taken back control from Lucifer, something which should have been impossible, and trapped Lucifer in the Cage, and Michael had been trapped there with him. If everything was truly predestined – if the apocalypse had really been Father’s plan – then how had everything gone so wrong?

As Darcy Lewis, Michael had always questioned everything, always asking why and how, whether she was questioning books or rumours or authority figures. It was hard not to let the habit carry over now that she was an angel again, even though it felt like sacrilege. Michael couldn’t help _wondering_ , even though it left her with an uneasy, unsettled feeling.

Michael glanced up to see Jane watching her with a look of understanding.

“The world isn’t what you thought it was, huh?”

“Something like that,” Michael muttered. She decided to explain. “Father laid out his plan for all of us to follow, ages ago, and then he left. I tried to follow the plan, but it all went wrong, somehow. Two humans and a fallen angel somehow managed to defeat the assembled ranks of Heaven and Hell, all by themselves. No one should have that much luck without Father’s intervention.”

“So you think He was interfering to prevent this plan from happening?” Jane asked. She sounded like she couldn’t quite believe that she was talking about this.

“I don’t know what to think,” said Michael miserably, and with complete honesty. “Everything I thought I knew has been shaken up. Am I being punished for failing to carry out the plan? Or is this something else altogether?”

Jane patted Michael on the shoulder. The contact was oddly comforting.

“I’m sure you’ll work it out,” the scientist said reassuringly. Michael pushed a piece of pancake around on her plate with her fork.

“Everyone always says that,” she said. “Like I’m omnipotent. But I’m not. Maybe I was the good son, but I’m not Father. I can’t be him. I can’t be perfect. I’m supposed to be, but I’m not.”

“Of course you’re not,” said Erik. “Nobody’s perfect. If you’re angel – which I’m still not sure about – you’re a creation of the perfect being, something lesser than Him, so it follows that you yourself are imperfect. Otherwise you would be Him.”

Michael blinked, absorbed that, and stared at Erik with her mouth open.

“What?” asked Erik uncomfortably.

“You know more about theology than you let on, don’t you?” Michael asked slowly.

“My uncle was a priest,” Erik admitted. “He and my father used to have arguments about the nature of God. All nonsense of course, but they were some interesting arguments.”

Michael turned Erik’s words over in her head, struck by how much sense they made.

“But we were supposed to be perfect,” she said in confusion. “That was the point. That was what set us apart from humans.”

“Well, maybe you were wrong,” said Jane reasonably. “And maybe you’re not so different from humans as you think.”

Michael fell into a troubled silence. The other two seemed to sense her unease, because Jane didn’t ask her any more questions, and Erik only addressed his remarks to Jane.

As soon as breakfast was over, they prepared to go to the hospital.

“Can you do that…” Jane snapped her fingers in demonstration, “…thing? To take us straight there? Because it’s at least an hour’s drive away, and…”

“Sure,” said Michael, cutting her off. “Easy.”

“Great,” said Jane. “Erik? You ready to go?”

Erik looked deeply uncomfortable, but nodded. He eyed Michael.

“Are you sure you can do this?” he asked.

Michael grinned, a spark of mischief welling up in her. She snapped her fingers.

Jane and Erik stumbled as they were suddenly standing in the hospital parking lot. Both looked startled, and Erik looked a little shaken.

“So, that happened,” said Jane, recovering quickly. “You need to explain to me how you do that.”

“But after we collect our alien,” said Michael, who preferred not to try and explain.

“Right, after we collect him,” Jane agreed.

The three of them walked inside the hospital, and went to the front desk to find out what room the alien was in. It took several minutes to convince the nurse at the desk to give out the patient’s room, but Jane managed it eventually.

The only problem was, when they reached the alien’s room, it was empty.

“Great,” Jane said discontentedly, already turning away.

“Hmm,” said Michael, eyeing the restraints on the hospital bed. They returned to the front desk, but the nurse there had no idea where the alien could have gone.

“Well, that was a waste of time,” Jane sighed, as the three of them left the hospital.

“Maybe not,” said Michael, and pointed to the large blonde guy in the hospital gown who was walking nearby.

“Excuse me!” Jane ran over to him. Michael went striding after her. “Excuse me!”

The guy seemed to realise that Jane was talking to him, and looked around, his expression inquiring. Michael stayed close to Jane. She hadn’t forgotten that the guy had tried to punch Erik the previous day in a fit of rage.

But the guy seemed to be in a much better mood today. His eyes were clear, instead of clouded with anger and disorientation, and his expression was amiable as he waited for Jane to speak.

“Hi,” said Jane. “So, um, we met yesterday. When I hit you with the van, which I’m really sorry about, by the way. How do you feel about having breakfast with me?”

The alien gave her a gallant smile, and wow, charming, Michael thought, before realising that she’d just had a purely Darcy thought. She shook her head. Being an archangel again after being a human was just plain confusing.

“I would be honoured,” said the alien. His eyes moved to Darcy, standing protectively next to Jane, and he frowned. “I believe we have met, strange warrior.”

“Briefly,” Michael agreed, giving him the eye.

The alien bowed his head.

“I must apologise for attempting to assault your companion,” he said. “I was in some confusion at the time. I hope you will forgive me.”

“Don’t do it again,” Michael warned. The alien nodded, looking a little wary.

“We should go,” said Erik, joining them, and giving the alien a mistrustful look.

“Right,” said Michael and raised her hand.

“Wait,” said Erik, “don’t–”

The world shifted around them, and the small group found themselves standing in Jane’s lab.

“–do that,” Erik finished resignedly.

The alien just blinked, looking a little surprised, but appearing nowhere near as disturbed as Erik was.

“An interesting trick,” he observed.

“Hey,” said Jane, to get his attention. “I’m Jane. This is Erik, and Dar – I mean, Michael. Her name is Michael.”

“Yup, I’m Michael,” said Michael, giving a little wave. “Hi.”

“I am Thor, of Asgard,” said the alien. He looked down at his hospital gown. “Is this a customary garment, on Earth? It seems most undignified.”

“Ah, no,” said Jane, looking awkward. “Hang on a second – I should have something else you can wear…” And she disappeared into an adjoining room, presumably looking for something Thor could wear that was a little less revealing.

“It’s a hospital gown,” Michael explained, since Erik was looking at Jane’s equipment, which left just her to talk to Thor. “You only wear it when you’re seeing a healer. It’s so that they can easily get to any injuries you might have to treat them more easily.”

“Ah,” said Thor politely. “I see.”

“Here we go!” said Jane, reappearing with  pile of clothes. “You can wear these.”

Thor took the shirt that was on top of the pile, and looked at the ‘My name is Donald Blake’ sticker stuck to the front. Jane quickly tore it off.

“My ex,” she said, with a nervous smile. Thor looked at her. “They’re the only clothes I had that’ll fit you. Sorry.”

“They will suffice,” said Thor. His attention wandered to the images Jane had pinned to the wall, of the spacetime anomaly he had appeared in.

“You're welcome,” said Jane. “Now tell me...” She pointed to the indistinct human form that was clearly visible in one of the frame-grabs. “What were you doing, in that?”

Thor glanced at the image.

“What does anyone do in the Bifrost?” he asked dismissively, and turned away from the image.

“The Bifrost,” Erik muttered, sounding sceptical and a little amused. Michael shot him an contemplative look.

Erik still seemed to be having trouble accepting that she was an archangel, even after seeing evidence of Michael’s powers and wings. He didn’t seem even a little inclined to accept that Thor might be actually be Thor the Norse god.

“What exactly is the Bifrost?” Jane asked.

“This mortal form has grown weak,” said Thor, ignoring her question, and looking around the lab. “I require sustenance.”

Jan exchanged a glance with Michael. She looked at Erik, who shrugged.

“Right,” she said, “I did promise you breakfast.”

Michael couldn’t help but wonder exactly how much help to Jane’s research Thor was actually going to be, with his current attitude.

* * *

Michael, Jane, and Erik sat in the diner, and watched as Thor ate his way through several plates of food.

“Now tell us exactly what happened to you last night,” said Jane, her notebook and pen at the ready.

Thor only smiled at her, and Jane glanced away, looking flustered.

“Maybe start with how you got inside that Einstein-Rosen bridge,” she muttered, looking at her notebook.

Michael’s eyebrows slowly rose at how flustered Jane had become. She exchanged a glance with Erik, who looked gloomy.

Thor downed a cup of coffee, and smiled in surprised pleasure.

“This drink,” he announced. “I like it.”

And then he threw the cup against the floor, where it shattered into dozens of pieces.

Jane and Erik stared in shock. The other patrons of the diner turned around to look at the sound, which meant that they were all watching when Thor bellowed, “ _Another!_ ”

Michael felt a bout of entirely inappropriate laughter bubbling up, as Jane politely told Thor off for smashing the coffee cup, while behind them Isabella ranted angrily to the nearest waitress. She suppressed her laughter.

“ _Did you see that? The first time she brings a man in here, and he's a lunatic!”_ Isabella said in Spanish.

“Alright, then no more smashing, deal?” Jane asked Thor, who was looking faintly bewildered at the stir he’d caused.

“You have my word,” he promised, holding eye contact. Jane smiled a little, and glanced away.

Michael couldn’t blame Jane for feeling attracted: Thor was pretty much the picture of attractive masculinity. But she couldn’t help feeling that this wasn’t going to end well.

Just then a group of townies entered the diner, chattering away.

“The usual please, Izzy,” said one of them, seating himself at the front counter.

“You missed all the excitement out at the crater,” announced a second townie. Michael turned to listen.

“What crater?” asked Isabella in English.

Jane and Erik exchanged a look, and turned to listen as well.

“They're saying some kind of satellite crashed in the desert,” the first guy explained.

“We were having a good time with it until the Feds showed up, chased us out,” added the second guy.

“Excuse me, did you say there was a satellite crash?” asked Jane, leaning forward.

The second guy looked pleased at her interest.        

“Yep,” he confirmed. “They said it was radioactive. And I had my hands all over it.” A look of realisation crossed his face. “I’m probably sterile now.”

Michael glanced back at Thor, who was preparing to dig into the biggest stack of pancakes Michael had ever seen. Michael looked back at the guys sitting at the front counter.

“What did the satellite look like?” asked Erik curiously. The guy shrugged.

“I don't know nothing about satellites. But it was heavy. Real heavy. Nobody could lift it.”

Thor’s head snapped up. A moment later he was getting to his feet, and crossing the diner.

A large hand dropped onto the townie’s shoulder, and the guy looked up to meet Thor’s intent gaze.

“Where?” Thor asked.

“About twelve miles east of here,” said the guy, looking a little intimidated by Thor's height and bulk.

Thor turned to walk out of the diner.

“I wouldn't bother!” the first townie called after him. “Looked like the whole Army was coming in when we left!”

But Thor’s stride didn’t halt.

“Where is he going?” Jane asked, and hurried after him. Erik followed her. Michael sighed, cast a longing look at Thor’s abandoned stack of pancakes, and went after them.

It only took a moment for her to catch up with Thor.

“Let me guess,” said Michael. “Whatever crashed in the desert isn’t a satellite, and it’s yours.”

“You are correct,” said Thor, without breaking stride. Jane and Erik caught up to the two of them.

“Where are you going?” Jane demanded.

“Twelve miles east of here,” Thor replied.

“Why?” Jane asked, looking confused and annoyed.

“To get what belongs to me,” said Thor.

“So now you own a satellite?” Jane tried to make sense of what Thor was saying.

“It is not what they say it is,” Thor said, glancing at her.

“Whatever it is, the government seems to think it's theirs,” said Jane, walking fast to keep up with Thor’s long stride. “You intend to just walk in there and take it?”

“Yes,” said Thor simply. He stopped walking, and turned to face Michael and Jane. “If you take me there now, I'll tell you everything you wish to know.”

“Everything?” Jane asked hopefully.

“Jane, no–” Michael began.

“All the answers you seek will be yours, once I reclaim Mjolnir,” Thor confirmed.

Michael blinked.

“Mjolnir?” she asked, pronouncing the Norse word flawlessly. “Your hammer? _That’s_ what crashed?”

“Aye,” Thor confirmed. “Will you take me there?”

Michael found that not one, but two pairs of eyes were looking at her expectantly. Jane looked just as hopeful  as Thor.

Michael folded her arms.

“Oh, no,” she said firmly. “You heard the guys in the diner, the place is probably crawling with feds.”

While Michael was secure in her archangelic powers, that didn’t mean she wanted to attract too much attention. Sure, the human agents would probably be nothing more than a nuisance, but…

Michael had never been the kind to attract trouble, and she didn’t want to start now. She had a mission of her own, to find out what she was doing here on Earth and to learn whatever lesson it was that her Father wanted her to learn. Helping pagan gods retrieve lost possession wasn’t on the agenda.

“But you have special powers, right?” Jane wheedled. “Michael, he needs our help. And he’s promised me answers. You’re an angel, aren’t you supposed to be about helping people?”

“No,” Michael said flatly. “I’m not getting entangled in this mess. You do what you want.”

She watched as Erik pulled Jane aside.

“Please don’t do this,” Erik pleaded urgently. Jane looked torn.

“I’d just be driving him out there,” Jane argued.

“It’s dangerous,” Erik argued. “He’s dangerous. Do you really want to risk getting into trouble with federal agents? You have trouble enough with funding as it is.”

Jane’s face fell, and she looked disappointed.

“I’m sorry,” she told Thor. “We can’t take you.”

Thor looked again to Michael, who glowered at him.

“I understand,” said Thor. “Then this is where we say goodbye.” He took Jane’s hand and kissed it.

Jane blushed.

“That’s… thank you,” she said, looking flustered again.

Thor bowed his head to each of them.

“Jane. Erik. Michael,” he said. “Farewell.”

Thor turned and began walking down the main street. Jane still looked disappointed, but Erik looked relieved.

“Now… let’s get back to the lab,” he said. “We have work to do.”

The three of them began walking back towards the lab.

Michael couldn’t help but feel that that had been far too easy. As it turned out, she was right.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

They arrived back at the lab to find the place overrun with men in suits and men in tactical gear, who were in the process of carrying Jane’s equipment out of the lab and depositing it into several sleek black vans. It took like the federal agents had found them.

“Hey, that’s my stuff!” Jane exclaimed, but the men in suits ignored her.

“What the hell is going on here?” Jane demanded, trying to get an answer from one of the suited men around her.

One of the men peeled away from the rest and approached Jane. He was older than most of the other agents, with a receding hairline and deceptively mild blue eyes. He smiled blandly.

“Dr Foster, I’m Agent Coulson, with SHIELD,” he said.

The name had no effect on Jane, but Erik’s eyes widened slightly, and he looked faintly alarmed.

“I don’t care who you work for, you can’t do this!” Jane yelled. Erik tried to pull her aside, but Jane was having none of it.

“Jane,” Erik said. “This is more serious than you realise. Let it go.”

“Let it go?” Jane echoed, looking at him like he’d lost it, a hint of betrayal in her features. “This is my life!”

“We're here investigating a security threat,” said Coulson calmly. “We need to appropriate your equipment and all your atmospheric data.”

“By ‘appropriate’ you mean _steal?_ ” Jane demanded, growing more and more upset.

“This should more than compensate you for your trouble,” Coulson said, trying to hand Jane a cheque. Jane ripped it up and threw it to the ground without even looking at it.

“Jane–” Erik tried.

“I can't just pick up replacements from RadioShack! I made most of that equipment myself!”

“Then I’m sure you can do it again,” said Coulson, the bland expression never wavering.

It was at that moment that Michael noticed what one of the agents was carrying out of the lab.

“Hey! That’s my iPod!” she exclaimed. “Give it back!”

The agent ignored her, and Michael stormed over, her temper rising.

She’d done the right thing, she’d tried to ignore the lure of trouble, to be a good angel, but this was her _iPod_ – the one thing that helped when she was feeling abandoned and alone in this strange angel-less universe. Michael had limits, and she wasn’t about to stand down when something this important was being taken away from her.

She was an archangel, and if anyone tried to stand in her way, they would discover their mistake.

Before the agent could stop her, Michael snatched the iPod from his hands. The agent tried to grab it back, but Michael dodged, shoving the iPod in her pocket.

“Miss Lewis, please return the iPod to my agent,” said Coulson.

“This is _my_ iPod,” said Michael fiercely, standing her ground. “It’s the one comfort I have. You’re not taking it.” Her hand clenched around it.

Coulson didn’t reply, just nodded to the nearest agents.

They sprang into action, each taking hold of Michael’s arms.

What they didn’t expect was for Michael to wrench herself free with superhuman speed, and vanish from sight.

“What the…” began one of the agents.

“I suggest you leave,” Michael said from behind the agents. Coulson turned with the others, his eyebrows raised in shock, although that was the only sign of emotion he showed. “You’ve overstayed your welcome.”

“Miss Lewis…” Coulson began.

“My name is Michael,” Michael said, and spread her wings.

The agents eyes widened as Michael’s shadow acquired a large pair of wings, spreading across the concrete and sand.

“You’re not leaving with our stuff,” Michael added, with finality, and raised her hand.

“Please remain calm,” Coulson said, a note of urgency entering his voice. “I’m sure this can all be worked out–”

Michael snapped her fingers.

The assembled agents vanished like they’d never been there, including Coulson, and Jane’s equipment was nowhere in sight – Michael had transferred it all back to the lab where it had come from.

“What did you do with them?” Jane asked, walking over. “Where did they go?”

“New York,” said Michael, and glanced at a silhouette on a nearby rooftop. The man ducked down, out of sight. “But we don’t have long. They have other agents here.”

“What do we do?” Jane asked, looking worried.

“Where’s a safe place to store back-ups of your data?” Michael asked. Jane blinked.

“Um – well, there’s my Mom’s house – she lives in London–”

The address and layout of the house was at the top of Jane’s thoughts. Michael made a copy of all Jane’s data, then dumped the backups in the spare bedroom at Jane’s mother’s house, along with a note on the door telling Jane’s mother that the room was full of Jane’s stuff and not to touch it for the time being.

“It’s done,” said Michael.

“What are you going to do?” Erik asked, looking afraid. Michael considered the question.

She hadn’t wanted to help Thor because she was afraid of the trouble it would bring, but trouble had found her anyway. She might as well help him retrieve Mjolnir. Hopefully without the hammer lying around, SHIELD would lose interest in Jane’s data.

They’d still be after Michael, of course, but Michael could easily deal with that. She was, after all, an archangel.

“I’m going to find the pagan god who started all this, and help him retrieve his hammer,” Michael decided.

The only concern was Michael’s human family, and Michael’s heart contracted at the thought. They should be safe from SHIELD, but… Michael carefully hadn’t thought about the Lewis family since she’d become an archangel again, and now she winced as she considered how her family would react if federal agents turned up at their door, asking awkward questions.

They were her family, and they weren’t, and Michael’s feelings about them were so conflicted that she really, really didn’t want to think about them.

“You’re going after Thor?” Jane asked.

“I am,” said Michael. She hesitated, and looked back at Jane. “Look, I think it’s best if I don’t come back, after this. Tell SHIELD whatever you like about me, when they come asking. Trouble’s going to follow me for a while, I think, and it’s best if I don’t bring it down on your head. Jane, it was great working with you.”

“You can’t just leave,” Jane protested. “You –”

But Michael was already gone.

* * *

She found Thor about a mile out of town, walking through the desert. He was sweating profusely and his face had turned pink from the heat, but his expression was one of determination.

“Hey,” said Michael, landing next to him. “So I changed my mind. I’m willing to help.”

Thor stopped, and turned to face her.

“What changed your mind?” he asked.

“The people whose attention I didn’t want to attract came after us anyway,” said Michael. “I figured, after that, that I might as well help.”

Michael wondered what the hell she was doing. None of this was part of the plan. Lie low and find out what her Father wanted her to do, that had been the plan.

On the other hand, the plan hadn’t accounted for unexpected federal agents.

Michael’s hand slipped into her pocket and closed around her iPod. She could have just snapped up a new one, but it wouldn’t have been the same. Besides, she wasn’t about to let a bunch of humans order her around and take her stuff. She might have fallen from grace, somehow, but she was still an archangel, dammit.

“Then I thank you,” Thor said gravely. “Is Jane alright?”

“She’s fine,” said Michael. “So’s Erik. They’re both fine.”

“Good,” said Thor. “Can you take me to Mjolnir?”

Michael snapped her fingers, and the two of them reappeared some distance from the crash site. A military-style base had been constructed around it, and the perimeter was being patrolled by armed guards.

“I think your hammer’s in there,” said Michael. “It looks like it’s under heavy guard.”

“It is of no consequence,” said Thor, his expression confident. He started to walk down towards the base.

“You’re just going to walk in there?” Michael called after him, a little amazed at his audacity.

“Who is to stop me?” Thor called back over his shoulder with a grin. Michael watched him as he approached the edge of the base.

Thor reached out to the fence that had been erected at the perimeter, and tore back a section of it with his bare hands, slipping through the hole into the base.

Above them, it started to rain gently.

Michael made herself invisible to human eyes, and watched.

It didn’t take long before Thor was noticed. A shout rang out, and a moment later an alarm went off. Men poured from nowhere, all headed in Thor’s direction.

What followed was an impressive fight, as Thor barrelled his way past every agent who tried to stop him. The rain grew heavier, and Michael snapped herself up an umbrella, and continued to watch.

Agents were slipping and falling in the muddy ground, others felled by Thor’s massive fists. There was a transparent cubic structure at the centre of the base, and Thor headed straight for it. Tearing a hole in the plastic wall, he stepped forward into the cube, heading down into the crater inside it.

The hammer at the centre of the crater was glowing and giving off tiny sparks, and Thor’s face split in a triumphant grin as he approached it. The hammer glowed brightly as Thor reached for the handle and tugged.

Nothing happened.

Thor’s expression turned to one of confusion, then one of desperation as Mjolnir stayed where it was. Thor fell to his knees, radiating despair, and tilted his head back to let out a yell of anguish. He made no move to get away as he was surrounded by men in SHIELD uniforms.

Michael watched as Thor was led away in handcuffs, with scientists approaching the hammer to check on it. The hammer’s glow had subsided to nothing.

The rain pounded down, soaking everything in its path.

Michael took flight, and landed next to the hammer, still invisible to human eyes. She looked thoughtfully down at the hammer. There was a complex enchantment laid upon it, and the hammer itself possessed a limited intelligence. In addition to this, the hammer was radiating the same kind of energy field as the one that had faded off Thor, and Michael guessed that it was currently holding his power, for some reason.

Michael reached out, and gave the handle of the hammer a gentle tug.

The hammer stayed where it was, and Michael could almost sense its disdain.

Michael pulled her hand back, and took flight a second time.

She didn’t look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a lot going on at the moment, so updates on this may or may not be a bit sporadic.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Michael sat on the surface of the moon, inside a bubble of artificial atmosphere she’d snapped up, staring out into the darkness of space that surrounded her. The earphones for her precious iPod were once again in her ears, and Bowie’s _Life on Mars_ was playing.

Michael didn’t know what to do next. She’d failed at remaining under the radar and pretending to still be Darcy Lewis, she’d failed at helping Thor get Mjolnir back… it felt like everything she tried to do right now, she failed at.

Michael wrapped her arms around her knees, and stared into the emptiness of space.

“What do you want from me?” she asked quietly. Her voice was thin and didn’t carry far in the small bubble of atmosphere. “What am I supposed to do?”

There was no answer, not that she’d expected any.

Her iPod rolled onto another song, and new music filled Michael’s ears.

_“Asking all kinds of questions to myself, but never finding the answers… Crying at the top of my voice, and no one listening…”_

That was the crux of the matter, wasn’t it? Here she was, hurt and full of and questions, and with no one around to answer them. Her Father had gone again, back to wherever he’d disappeared to the first time, and Michael was still none the wiser as to why They’d left in the first place.

Michael reached out and punched the dusty surface beside her in frustration, leaving a small crater. Moon dust rose into the air, and slowly floated down again.

Michael had tried for _so long_ to be the good one, the dutiful one, the one everyone else could rely on to be responsible. As Darcy, she’d been free to live her life however she wanted. Michael couldn’t help but envy her human self for that.

“I’m tired,” Michael told the air in front of her. “I’m tired of always trying to be the good one. All this time trying to do what you wanted, and it’s never been enough.”

And if the current circumstances were any indication, it never would be.

“That’s it. I’m done. If I somehow learn the lesson you want me to learn, then great. But otherwise, I’m just doing what I want. Living my life. And I don’t… I don’t care about Your plan anymore. I’m done.”

Michael breathed deeply. Coming to this decision hurt, aching like a sore tooth, but it also felt like an enormous relief. Being human had taught Michael how to use free will, and she had every intention of doing so. She was just so, so tired of everything. She might as well give independence a try.

Maybe after a while she’d go back to searching for answers, trying to fulfil her Father’s wishes, but for now – she was done. She needed a break.

Michael vanished from the surface of the moon in a little flurry of moon dust, the pocket of atmosphere collapsing the moment she left it.

Michael had been trying not to think of her human family, but right now she felt so alone that there was only one place she could think of to go.

And who knew, maybe it would help with her sense of internal conflict.

* * *

Michael stood on the doorstep, and rang the doorbell.

A moment later it was opened.

“Darcy!” Eloise exclaimed, surprised happiness infusing her tone. “What are you doing here? I thought you were away for that internship?” She got a good look at Michael’s face, and her expression changed from happiness to worry. “Darcy? What’s wrong?”

“Can I come in?” Michael asked, her stomach churning.

“Of course.” Eloise looked confused by the question, but stood aside, letting Michael walk inside.

Michael went straight to the kitchen, and started making herself a hot cocoa.

“Uh-oh,” said Eloise, walking into the room behind her. “If you’re going straight for the hot cocoa, it must be bad.”

“You have no idea,” said Michael darkly. Her human sister watched, somewhere between amusement and worry, as Michael boiled the kettle and poured the hot water into a mug with some milk and hot cocoa powder.

“So,” said Michael. “How’s school?”

“You didn’t come here to talk to me about school,” said Eloise, crossing her arms. “You know Mom and Dad are at work at this time of day, which means you wanted to talk to me, and you wouldn’t just show up in the middle of the afternoon when you’re supposed to be in _New Mexico_ if there wasn’t something going on. So spill.”

“Right.” Michael took a seat at the kitchen table with her hot cocoa. Eloise sat in the chair opposite, and waited expectantly.

“So, angels,” Michael began, and Eloise’s brow wrinkled in confusion.

“Wait, what?”

“Just bear with me, okay?” Michael attempted a light tone, but it fell flat. “So, angels. They’re made of energy, light and power and holy purpose, okay? Call it Grace, the stuff that they’re made of.”

“Oookay,” Eloise said slowly, her face full of bewilderment, but going with it.

“Now, imagine that an angel can – tear that power out,” said Michael. She took a deep breath. “The moment that they do, they’re reborn as a mortal soul. A human. They’re reborn as a human, with no memory of their life as an angel. They could live an entire lifetime and never know that they were ever anything but human.”

“If you say so,” Eloise said. She was frowning in concentration, clearly trying to work out where this was going.

“But Grace is powerful stuff,” said Michael. Her palms were sweating around her cup of cocoa. She wiped them on her pants. “Wherever it ended up, after the angel ripped it out, the angel is going to be drawn to it. The moment they find it, their Grace becomes part of them again, so that they’re back to being an angel again. An angel with a human soul.” Michael took a sip of her hot cocoa, and waited.

“Wait, that’s your story?” Eloise asked, when it became clear that Michael wasn’t going to say any more. “That’s it? Darce, what are you trying to tell me, here?”

“Eloise, look at me,” said Michael. When she was sure that she had Eloise’s full attention, she spread her wings, their shadows spreading out behind her on the far wall.

Eloise’s eyes went big. She wasn’t stupid, and she understood what was going on immediately.

“Holy crap!” she yelped. “You’re an _angel?_ ”

“Archangel,” said Michael. “And it’s – it’s horrible, El. I was made human to teach me a lesson, and I still don’t know what that lesson was supposed to be, and I can’t go home. I’m stuck here alone, and I don’t know what to do.”

Michael wasn’t sure what her face looked like right now, but if Eloise’s expression was any clue, it was bad.

“Well, shit,” said Eloise. She pushed back her chair, and stood up.

“Language,” Michael chided absently, more out of habit than anything.

“Come here,” said Eloise, ignoring the reprimand.

Michael stood up, abandoning her hot cocoa, and was pulled into a hug by her sister. Michael took deep, wavering breaths, and clung.

This sense of family, of connection – she’d always been afraid of losing it, when she was Darcy, and never understood why. Now Michael knew all too well why. She’d had that sense of family before, only to lose it all when her Father left and Heaven fell to pieces.

She’d missed it terribly, and here was its echo, in her relationship with Eloise and her parents. As conflicted as she was, Michael didn’t want to lose that love. She’d been without it for too long.

“It’s okay,” Eloise said, holding Michael tight. “We’ll work it out.”

Michael breathed deeply, and eventually pulled away. She wiped at her eyes.

“We don’t need to,” Michael said. “I’m giving up the whole responsibilities thing. Going my own way. I’m sick and tired of trying and trying to do the right thing and never getting anywhere for my efforts.”

“So what now?” said Eloise.

“I don’t know,” said Michael. “I do what I want, I guess. Whatever that is.” She sat down again, and sipped at her cocoa. Eloise sat down again too.

“There’s one other thing,” Michael added. “I… well, I used my powers in front of a government agency, so they’re probably going to come around asking weird questions. You know what to do, right?”

“Say nothing, deny everything, just like you taught me,” Eloise said, rolling her eyes with a small smile. “Mom and Dad are going to worry, you know.”

“I know, but I can’t deal with them right now,” said Michael honestly. “My feelings are too messed up.”

“But you could deal with me?” Eloise questioned.

“I’m better with siblings than parents, right now,” Michael admitted. “Fewer issues. Besides. I missed having a sibling.”

“Well, I’m glad you came to me,” said Eloise. “And whatever you do, stay safe and take care of yourself, okay?”

“I’m an archangel, not much can hurt me,” said Michael wryly.

“Bullshit,” said Eloise. “Even if you’re invincible, you can still be hurt.”

“Yeah,” said Michael slowly. “I guess that’s true.”

She finished her hot cocoa and stood up.

“I’d better go before the feds show up. Don’t let them give you any trouble.”

“I won’t,” Eloise promised. “Hey, you’re going to visit, right?”

“I’ll drop by sometime,” said Michael. “You look after yourself, too, okay?”

“Deal,” said Eloise. Michael reached out to ruffle her hair, which prompted an eye roll.

“Later,” said Michael, and took flight.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ETA: Probably my last update for a while, sorry guys.

**Chapter Eight**

For lack of anything better to do, Michael returned to Puente Antiguo. In spite of herself, she was curious about how Thor was doing, and wondered if he was still in SHIELD custody. For one thing, she felt a little bad about not doing anything to intervene when he’d been captured, even if it was his own fault.

Making herself invisible again, Michael headed back to the SHIELD base.

She found Thor sitting on a chair, hands handcuffed behind his back. The position looked uncomfortable, but Thor didn’t really look like he cared. He was staring into space, and looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“Hey.” Michael made herself visible and audible to Thor alone, and threw up a fake feed for the security camera in the corner of the room. “You want someone to bust you out of here? What’s the deal with Mjolnir?”

“I am not worthy of wielding her,” Thor said heavily. He didn’t look up.

“What’s wrong?” Michael asked.

“My brother has informed me that my father is dead,” said Thor.

For a second Michael recoiled inwardly, understanding all too well the pain and grief that Thor was feeling. Then –

“Wait, your brother? Was here? Who is he?”

“My brother is Loki,” said Thor. “He was here. The mortals did not see him.”

Michael frowned.

“And he didn’t rescue you?”

“I was banished,” said Thor dully. “The truce with Jotunheim was conditional upon my exile. Mother has forbidden my return.”

“Oh.” Michael considered this. “So you’re stuck here, separated from your family.” She knew those feels.

“Yes.” Thor looked miserable.

“Me too,” Michael found herself saying. “I was banished to this world by my Father, too, and I still don’t know why. There was some lesson I was supposed to learn, but… I don’t know what. My family are all back home, and I miss them.”

Thor looked up at her.

“How do you bear it?” he asked, an edge of desperation in his tone. Michael shook her head ruefully.

“Pretty badly, so far,” she said. “Come on, let me break you out of here.” The handcuffs unlocked themselves and fell to the ground with a snap of her fingers, and Thor stretched his arms out in front of himself, wincing. He stood.

“I suppose I may as well spend my time here in freedom rather than imprisoned,” he agreed quietly. Michael snapped her fingers, and the two of them reappeared in town. Michael knew that SHIELD would probably attempt to recapture Thor, but well, she’d deal with that when it happened.

She felt a certain kinship with Thor; after all, the two of them were kind of stuck in the same boat.

“Come on, let’s get you something to…” Michael trailed off as Thor suddenly beamed.

“My friends!” he roared, and Michael followed Thor’s gaze to see four people walking down the main street, dressed in full armour.

Thor ran towards them, and Michael followed a short distance away.

“Thor!” one of the quartet bellowed, and there was much hugging and delighted clapping each other on the back.

But after a moment Thor sobered.

“My friends, I’ve never been happier to see you,” he said. “But you should not have come.”

“We’re here to take you home,” one of his friends said.

“You know I can't.” Thor shook his head. “My father is dead because of me. I must remain in exile.”

Thor’s four friends exchanged baffled looks.

“Thor…” the woman in armour said slowly. “Your father still lives.”

Michael saw how her words hit Thor: first he reacted with disbelief, then understanding and betrayal as he realised that his brother must have lied to him.

“So Thor can go home?” Michael asked.

“I am sure Heimdall will open the Bifrost to us,” said the blonde warrior.

“Then I guess I’ll see you later,” said Michael.

Thor turned to her, his expression full of mixed emotions.

“Thank you, Michael, for all the assistance you have given me,” he said. “Will you watch over Mjolnir for me, and see that she does not fall into the hands of the unworthy?”

Michael remembered the attitude that the hammer had given off, and thought that probably Mjolnir was capable of doing so itself.

“I’ll keep an eye on it for you,” Michael allowed.

“Again, you have my thanks,” said Thor. Michael gave him a nod, and glanced at Thor’s friends, who looked curious.

Michael left them there in the main street, and returned to the SHIELD base. No one seemed to have noticed yet that Thor was gone; the fake security feed Michael was feeding the security system was still going, showing Thor sitting with his hands cuffed behind his back the way he’d been when Michael had found him.

Michael wandered down to look at Thor’s hammer, still sitting unmoving in the base of the crater. Everyone else walked past her as though she wasn’t there.

Michael looked down at the hammer, and had the distinct feeling that it was somehow looking back.

“Thor’s going back to Asgard,” she told it. “I’m afraid you’re stuck here for the foreseeable future.”

The hammer buzzed with annoyance and discontent.

“Hey, you’re the one who found him unworthy,” Michael pointed out, and paused.

The agents around her were suddenly agitated, and Michael didn’t know why. She moved away from the hammer, closer to the nearest agent.

“We might need to evacuate,” the agent was saying to one of the scientists. “There’s some kind of machine tearing up the town–”

Michael didn’t wait to hear more. She took flight, heading straight for the main street of Puente Antiguo.

There was, exactly as the agent had said, some kind of armoured mechanical behemoth in the middle of the town. Michael couldn’t sense any kind of life coming from it; only magic.

The town was in disarray, with the blackened, smoking husks of nearby cars lying in the street, and buildings with gaping holes in the walls, flames licking up their sides. Jane and Erik were huddled at the end of the street, gaping, while further down the street Thor’s female friend was trying to help the others to their feet despite apparent injury.

Thor himself was walking towards the giant destroyer, determination in his stride.

“Thor, no!” Jane shouted.

Thor came to a stop, and looked up at the machine. It looked down at him with its empty face, fire burning where its features should have been.

“Brother...” said Thor, and Michael could hear the pain in his voice, “For whatever I have done to wrong you, whatever I have done to lead you to do this, I am sorry. But these people have done nothing to you. Thsee people are innocent. Taking their lives will gain you nothing.” Thor took a step forward. “So take mine, and end this.”

For a long moment the machine stared down at Thor. Then the fires in its empty face died away, and for a moment, Michael thought everything was going to be alright.

Then the destroyer backhanded Thor, sending him flying. Michael winced.

The machine waited, but Thor didn’t move. Apparently satisfied, the machine turned, and began to walk back the way it had come, out of town.

Michael flew to Thor’s side. His breathing was ragged and laboured, and even as Michael knelt by his side, he let out one last puff of air, and was still. Michael closed her eyes in regret.

When she opened them and looked around, Thor’s friends were looking stunned and aghast, and Jane and Erik didn’t look much better.

There was a distant humming, growing louder, and Michael looked up to see something glowing in the distance, heading straight for the town. Small strikes of lightning flashed, and there was the distant sound of thunder. Together with the thunder and the glowing object was a feeling of familiar magic.

“You have got to be kidding me,” said Michael, her hopes rising as Mjolnir made a beeline for Thor, as straight as an arrow. Michael stood and moved back just as the hammer rocketed down.

At the last minute Thor’s hand shot up, and caught it.

Lightning arched down from the sky, straight down to the hammer. Thor was engulfed in blue-white light, electricity sparking off him. Further down the street the destroyer turned, sensing that something had changed, but it was too late.

Michael watched as Thor’s armour formed around him piece by piece, even as he was lit by blinding light.

Mjolnir shot out from the bolt of lightning to hit the destructive machine, sending it sprawling. The lightning finally died away, to reveal Thor the Thunderer in all his glory.

“Oh. My. God,” Michael heard Jane say, and grinned.

Above the town dark clouds were forming, creating a swirling vortex as they began to spin. The others eyes widened and they ran to safety, but Thor and Michael stayed where they were.

Lightning flashed at the centre of the storm, and the destructive machine was drawn upwards by powerful winds. Thor too began to rise up into the air. The destroyer shot a blast of fire at him, but Thor blocked it with his hammer. He flew forwards, and the hammer forced the fiery blast back, back into the head of the destroyer. Light began to show between the plates of metal that made up the machine’s form, and a moment later there was an enormous explosion.

Michael stood unaffected by the shockwave. A car bounced upwards and almost smacked into her, but at the last moment Michael batted it aside, still staring upwards into the swirling vortex that filled the sky.

The destroyer fell, nothing more than a hunk of metal now, and crashed into the ground. The storm slowly abated, and Thor came striding out of the clouds of dust, smiling.

“Nice job,” said Michael, who was a little impressed in spite of herself. She wasn’t sure that the pagan gods back home could have managed such a remarkable feat.

“Thank you,” said Thor, and turned to where his friends were limping towards him.

Michael heard a buzzing noise, and looked up to see a black helicopter with S.H.I.E.L.D. emblazoned on its side descending towards the town. As she watched, it landed at the far end of the main street, where the worst of the destruction was, and a familiar agent climbed out, along with a couple of other agents. The helicopter took off again.

“Is that your usual look?” Michael heard Jane ask, and looked back to see her and Erik standing with Thor’s friends.

“It is,” Thor confirmed, as Michael walked over to join them.

“It’s a good look,” said Jane, and Thor smiled at her.

“Excuse me!” Coulson shouted.

“Heimdall, open the Bifrost!” Thor called out. Nothing happened.

Coulson and his agents caught up to the small group.

“Would someone like to explain what just happened here?” Coulson asked.

“He hasn’t answered,” said Thor, ignoring Coulson.

“Then we are stranded,” said one of Thor’s friends.

“Heimdall!” Thor yelled. “If you can hear us, we need you now! _Heimdall!_ ”

Above them, clouds began to gather. Rainbow light flashed in their depths.

Michael took Jane’s arm.

“I’d move back a little, if I were you,” she advised. Jane and Erik quickly did so. Coulson followed suit, the agents beside him doing the same and looking nervous.

A solid pillar of rainbow light blasted down from the sky, engulfing Thor and his friends. When it cleared, a strange pattern was imprinted in the dirt, and Thor and his friends were gone.

Michael looked back at Coulson. He was gazing at her warily.

“Miss Lewis,” he said. “Or… Michael, was it?”

“Call me Michael,” Michael agreed, with a smirk. “I used to be Darcy Lewis, but that was before I got my memories and powers back.”

“I see,” said Coulson, even though he clearly didn’t. He turned to Jane. “Dr Foster. You'll get your equipment back. You're going to need it to continue your research... which, after today's events, SHIELD would like to fully sponsor. If that's all right with you.”

Jane looked hilariously conflicted, trying to decide whether she should tell Coulson to shove it, or accept the offer of funding.

“She’ll consider your offer,” Erik responded for her. He nudged her.

“Right,” said Jane. “I’ll consider it.” She glanced at Michael. Erik did as well.

Coulson, noticing their gazes, turned back to Michael expectantly.

‘If you don’t mind, we’ll need to debrief you all,” he said.

“I don’t do debriefings,” said Michael.

“Michael,” said Coulson, “SHIELD needs to understand your capabilities–”

“You don’t,” said Michael. “I know you _want_ to, but that’s a different thing. Need and want are two separate concepts. And you don’t need to know about me. So if you’ll excuse me…”

“Keep in touch,” Jane said quickly. “Okay?”

“Okay,” Michael agreed, and flew off before a frustrated Coulson could try to stop her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there's anything you'd be interested to see in this story, let me know. I don't promise it will make it into the story, but I will definitely read suggestions.
> 
> ETA: Also, I'm trying to decide if I should finish this off with an epilogue and then continue in a sequel, or if I should try and shoehorn the entire verse into one fic. Thoughts?
> 
> Also also, I'm trying to decide what Michael would do in the intervening months between Thor and the Avengers films...


	9. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's a wrap on this story - but there will be a sequel coming.
> 
> Feel free to make suggestions as to what you'd like to see in the sequel. No promises anything will make it in, but I do read the comments.

**Epilogue**

Figuring out what she wanted to do with her life was a lot harder than Michael had expected.

As a human, it had all seemed relatively clear – Darcy had found a major she enjoyed, something she wanted to do as a career, and had been undertaking her degree with that in mind. Now, though… now she didn’t know what to do with her time.

Michael spent the first few days travelling, seeing the sights that this world had to offer. She stopped by Disney World, and came away with a _Lilo & Stitch_ shirt for herself and a _Beauty and the Beast_ snowglobe for Eloise. She visited Paris, and Rome, and stopped by Japan, picking up an old Nintendo 64 that was still in its box, along with several unopened games.

It was fun, in its own way, seeing what there was to see of this Earth: Michael had never really appreciated the creativity and diversity of human culture before, the way she did now. But she still felt alone, and lonely, and her lack of purpose still nagged at her. There was still a lot missing from Michael’s life, and the fact that she had decided to make her own decisions about what to do next didn’t change that fact.

Michael was flying over the American continent when something caught her attention – a source of energy, a big one. Michael dropped out of the space between places, in search of whatever had attracted her attention.

Up close, the energy was easily identifiable, and Michael’s breath caught in her throat.

It wasn’t just energy, but Grace. A very familiar Grace.

“ _Gabriel?_ ” Michael whispered, staring at the gigantic tree in front of her. There was no doubt about it – it was definitely Gabriel’s Grace. But how it had ended up here, and what had happened to Gabriel, Michael had no way of knowing.

Here it was, though: the sum of Gabriel’s power and memories, contained within a living tree, waiting for Gabriel to reclaim it.

Michael hesitated, torn between leaving Gabriel’s Grace where it was, and taking it with her. The familiar feel of it was like a balm, warm and comforting against her senses, but… well, angels were drawn to their Grace even after they’d lost it, and there was a chance that if Gabriel’s Grace stayed where it was, then someday Gabriel might turn up to reclaim it.

Wherever Gabriel was now, chances were that they were in this universe, somewhere.

Swallowing, Michael stepped back from the tree, wild hope rising in her heart. She’d leave Gabriel’s Grace where it was, and then, maybe…

…maybe, some day, her she would be joined by her little brother.


End file.
